Line goes from instant messaging app to online grocery market

While Line is the dominant messaging app in its home country of Japan, Southeast Asia provides the service with a significant chunk of its userbase. This is why, in an attempt to diversify its business, Line has launched a new online supermarket service in Thailand. 

Line, the popular messaging app with 181 million monthly active users at the last count, is set to launch online grocery deliveries across Southeast Asia. Line’s new online supermarket service launches first in Thailand on February 4. It promises discounts on some everyday groceries that people need to stock up on often, such as bottled water, coffee, and instant noodles. There’ll be free delivery for Thai shoppers. Thailand is one of the Japan-based app’s top markets, where is has 36 million active users at present. The new service was announced this morning by Line’s ecommerce partner, aCommerce, which handles all the supplies, warehousing, and shipping.